Many industrial activities require access to surfaces that can not be easily accessed by workers. For example, large storage tanks and ships require occasional surfacing cleaning and are difficult to access without costly scaffolding or lift devices. Furthermore, some surfaces such as walls and ceilings within storage tanks and nuclear reactors require elaborate and costly safety precautions for access by workers.
Remote controlled robots are replacing workers in a number of industrial activities and thus reducing the risk of injury or death to the work force. A robot that could carry equipment across a wide variety of vertical and overhead surfaces could be used for many industrial activities such as surface cleaning.